Our second Lamentations of the Flame Princess session had
less action than the first, but involved a lot more roleplaying and offered
some much desired decompression. The group layed low and recuperated for a few days,
met the new party members, then traveled to the nearby village of Nonsbeck
(poor, doomed, Nonsbeck), buried their dead, and visited the Ghoul Market.
I was very conflicted about introducing the Ghoul Market so
early into the campaign. My instinct with these sort of games is to introduce
the horrific and fantastic elements slowly, so they remain weird an alien. I
was afraid of making the ghouls and devils of the Market too familiar and thus
reduce their effectiveness. On the other hand, one of the problems I had with
my old D&D 5th Edition game was that I waited too long to
introduce all the weird stuff, and certainly Dungeon Crawl Classics doesn’t worry
about that sort of thing. In the end, I decided to throw caution to the wind.
If the ghouls wind up seeming too much like “people,” then I guess that will
just make the real alien horrors even more alien.
Our Cast
- Belinda Kage: Serpent Blood 1, Midwife. (Starts the session
with a broken blade thru her head.)
- Madeline: Specialist 1, Grave Robber. (Starts the session
missing an arm.)
- Mortimer: Alice 1, Librarian. (Starts the session moderately
wounded, but relatively intact.)
- “Matthew”: Outlander 1, Iriquois warrior and former slave.
(New PC)
- Julius Cervantes: Fighter 1, Former witch hunter. (New PC)
NPCs
- Ana Fischer: Rescued witch, secret Satanist. (Starts the
session with horrific facial and body burns.)
- Deacon Girnot: A sleazy weasel of a man, deacon of Nonsbeck's only church
The session starts with Belinda, Madline, Mortimer, and Ana tending
to their wounds. Once everyone is on their feet, they gather up the
bodies of the dead from last session. They pile their enemies’ corpses into a
great big pyre. They bury their dead comrades Hector and Tranquilo in the snow so they keep
relatively fresh until they can get a proper burial.
As the survivors keep warm by the pyre, Belinda notices Ana
gathering up the charred remnants of the book she was to burned with. The
accused witch is barely holding back tears and seems distraught. Belinda
recognizes the scraps as the remains of a spellbook. She confides in the witch
that she too is a spellcaster, and promises to help her recompile her lost
spell book. This earns her Ana’s gratitude and (for now) loyalty.
Meanwhile, Julius and Matthew have been traveling together
for few days, and notice the warm glow of a fire and the smell of cooking meat coming
from the ruins of the old Roman fort. They ride up to the camp and announce
themselves. The grizzled Spaniard and dusky-skinned warrior from the New World
surprise the group of survivors, but Julius and Matthew are just as surprised
by the horrifically mutilated quartet before them. Questions are made and explanations
are offered, but eventually the two groups of misfits decide to join forces. PC
party reestablished!
The party has pretty decent shelter and plenty of food in
the ruins of the fort, so they decide to recover here for a few days until
everyone is properly healed up. Belinda’s chirurgy skills help speed this
along. While the wounded rest, Matthew and Julius keep watch. On the third day,
a rabid bear wanders out of the forest and jumps on a nearby deer (random encounter!). The PCs don’t
believe the fort’s crumbling walls will keep the bear out, so they quickly
hustle everyone indoors and try to wrangle their horses into a tower. One of
the horses gets spooked and breaks free, running off. The rabid bear gives
chase!
Matthew and Julius decide the bear is too much of a threat
to leave alive so they open fire with their muskets, cycling through extra guns
while Mortimer (who’s fully healed at this point) reloads for them. The angry
bear charges towards them, making its way through the large gaps in the fort wall.
Musket balls hit a few more times, but it gets within melee range before
they can completely drop it. Julius’s spear catches the bear as it charges,
striking a devastating wound, but the maddened beast will fight to the death!
Matthew leaps at the bear with his French tomahawk, and the bear turns on the Iroquois.
The beast’s claws and teeth savage his flesh, tearing flesh away from his hand
and arm (luckily he makes his poison save, and doesn’t catch rabies). Desperate, Matthew lashes out with his dagger
in his good hand while Julius stabs and stabs again with his spear. Finally the
rabid beast falls. Matthew crawls out to join the rest of the convalescing PCs,
while Mortimer and Julius drag the diseased carcas away from the fort.
The next few days are peaceful, and eventually everyone is
back on their feet. Before they leave the fort, they decide to explore the
secret tunnel in the jail cell below. They use Madeline’s pick and shovel to
work on widening the tunnel, while the rangy Matthew crawls ahead on his belly
with a lantern pushed ahead of him. The outlander discovers that the tunnel connects
to an ancient Roman aqueduct, knee deep with cold, clean water. After some
debate, the PCs decide not to explore the aqueduct for now and prepare to head
east towards the village of Nonsbeck. Maybe they’ll find some work there. They
bundle up the bodies of their dead friends and head down the road.
On the road to Nonsbeck, they come across a man pulling a
wagon load of dead bodies to a nearby mass grave (random encounter!). Apparently a nearby village
(not Nonsbeck) has been recently wiped out by the Red Plague (seting up The Punchline for later). He offers to
take their friends’ corpses off their hands (“Plenty of room on the old cart!”)
but the PCs decline and give the man their farewells.
Eventually, they make their way to Nonsbeck, a pleasant
little village that would certainly never fall prey to demonic terror. The whole place is decorated for Christmas and
seems perfectly pleasant. The hilltop church of St. Margaret is their first
stop. They are greeted by Deacon Girnot, a greasy weasel of a character who is
not at all pleased to see a bunch of mutilated weirdos on the church’s
doorstep. The good priest Father Cristof, however is more friendly to strangers
and ushers them into the church. The PCs explain (lie) that they were attacked
on the road and two of their friends were killed, and hope the priest could give
them a proper burial. Father Cristof is saddened by their tale. Of course he’ll
arrange for burial first thing in the morning. For now, they can keep the
bodies in the shed where Girnot sleeps. The deacon is not at all pleased to be
put out of his room by a bunch of strange corpses.
The party’s next stop is the stable where they meet the
friendly stable boy Reiner. They pay him for a week’s worth of stabling in
advance, as they plan on staying here for a bit. Then it’s off to the inn for
some food and rest. The inn is busy this night. A group of farmers drinks
mulled ale and sings Christmas songs. A small group of five soldiers are spending
the night here while on their way to Berlin, a merchant and his guards have made this their stop for the night, and two travelling nuns also have rooms.
The party makes arrangements to
rent the last two rooms and settle in to eat. While they are eating, Belinda
notices that the soldiers are starting to get “handsy” with Gela, the nice
young barmaid. The buxom redheaded serpentblood saddles over to the soldiers and
snags their attention away from the younger girl. While the soldiers thusly
distracted, Belinda takes some of the opium form her chirurgy kit and spikes
the soldiers’ beer. Soon the soldiers are all unconscious, and the inn is a
much more pleasant place.
Meanwhile, Julius talks to the nuns. They are on their way
to the convent of St. Agnes, about a day away. The men escorting them along the
road have abandoned them, and it’s a dangerous world out there. Julius offers
the party’s aid in escorting them, if they are willing to wait a few days. The
older nun decides that arriving late is better than arriving dead, so they
reluctantly agree to wait for the PCs to finish their business.
The next morning, Father Cristoff performs a nice but simple
funeral for Tranquilo and Hector. The party springs for a couple
of nice headstones (and the money so spent becomes XP for their new characters,
Matthew and Julius). While in the cemetery, Madeline notices a large monument bearing a statue of the Virgin Mother. It is clearly old as it is covered in
moss and the inscriptions have long worn away. But on the back of this
monument she sees a white ankh, the sign of the ghoul market!
The party spends the rest of the day lazing about the town
or chopping wood for extra silver. But when night falls, they head back to the cemetery
to investigate the marked monument. It’s starless and bible black. The moon is
nothing but a thin sliver behind the clouds, and all the lights are out in the village.
The only sound is deacon Girnot’s snoring from his nearby shed. They manage to
find the monument again, and Madeline works her shovel into a crack in the base.
She moves a slab away to reveal narrow, steep stairs descending into the cold
earth. Madeline, Beleinda, Mortimer, and Ana head down into the foggy darkness.
Matthew doesn’t wish to walk on burial land, and Julius feels guilty about
desecrating the dead, so they decide to stay topside and stand guard. We have
split the party!
The stairs widen and grow less steep as the quartet descends,
but it still takes them 30 minutes to reach the bottom. The stairs lead to a large
tunnel filled with low-fog and shards of old bone. They refill their lantern
and press on.
Topside, Matthew and Julius grow worried. Their friends have
been down there for a half-an-hour or more. The decide that deacon Girnot (that
sleazy weasel) must know something. They sneak into his shed and awake him with
a sword held to his throat. Girnot looks up in fear. “Did Agamot send you?”
Who? The PCs have never heard of this man. After some graphic threats and a
failed Morale check, they learn the truth. Girnot stole a book from a wizard in
Heidelberg named Agamot. He suspects the wizard has sent people after him. “What’s
buried under this cemetery? Who’s buried under the Madonna gravestone?” they
demand. Girnot claims he doesn’t know. The grave’s been here longer than anyone
remembers. He doesn’t think there’s anything under the cemetery other than more
dirt and worms. Matthew and Julius don’t quite believe him, so they grab the deacon
and frog-march him to the cemetery and drag him with them as they head down the
stairs to the Ghoul Market.
Meanwhile, deep below the earth, the first group continues down
the tunnel for an hour before it comes to a large cavern. A wall of skulls stretches
across the cavern, and two statues of faceless angels form an entrance arch
with their wings. Black-bannered market stalls are scattered among crumbling
crypts and mausoleums of ancient design. Green flames burn in large iron
lanterns suspended from the ceiling. The smell of rot, spices, and cooking meat
fills the air. The dead and damned wander the isles, buying and selling. This
is the Ghoul Market!
The PCs walk to the central square. They can feel hungry
eyes watching them, but they use the timeless social tactic of “acting like we belong here."
Belinda still has a sword
blade through her head and rough stiches across her face, and the cenobite look helps sell the
illusion. The central square features a dry fountain with a large statue of a
nude medusa. Behind that lies Cold Ethyl’s Pleasure House, a desecrated
cathedral of black stone with a crucified nude woman writhing and moaning on
the cross in ecstasy. The PCs decide to
ignore that for now and follow a road sign towards the Skinsmith.
In the cavern of the Skinsmith, they are greeted by a robed
dwarf with a patchwork face, one of the Skinsmith’s minions. Of course they will be
able to fix Madeline's arm and repair Belinda and Ana’s scarred faces. Sadly the
party does not have enough money. But the dwarf is glad to inform them that the
Exchequer will trade them silver for parts of their vital essence (250sp per attribute
point permanently sold). The PCs have some scores they aren’t really using, so
this sounds like a good deal to them. They chit-chat with the dwarf for a bit before
leaving, and find out that a human wizard known as Lord Prospero frequents the
Ghoul Market. They file this info for later.
As they leave to find the Exchequer, they run into Matthew
and Julius, who have finally arrived in the Market. They have Girnot all tied
up so they look like slavers (“so we look like we belong). The party is
reunited, so they all head to the Exchequer for some easy money.
The Exchequer has a tent in the main square. He is a hulking
creature in dusty yellow robes with a cage of fire where his head should be.
The PCs have a new idea. Since Girnot is their "slave" now, his Essence is theirs
to sell! Plus, if they reduce his Intelligence and Charisma low enough, he won’t
be able to tell anyone what the PCs have been doing (“And if he dies, well, he doesn’t
seem like someone anyone will miss.”). The Exchequer pulls silver cobwebs out
of Girnot’s face, reducing his INT and CHA to 4 and 3, respectively. The deacon
is now very stupid and poorly spoken, and the party is several thousand silver oboli richer.
Pleased with themselves, the party heads back to the Skinsmith.
Madeline wants her old arm re-attached, but it’s too far gone. Instead, the great
cyclopean demon gives her a new arm covered in green scales and orange hair,
ending in a taloned claw (1d4 damage!). Belinda doesn’t quite trust the
Skinsmith to remove the blade from her head (and she kind of likes the cenobite
look), so she just has him grind the metal down so it’s not sticking out any
more. Ana whispers something in the demon’s ear (she’s actually in league with
Satan, remember, though the PCs still don’t know this). The Skinsmith nods
in ascent. When he’s done with his work, Ana’s hair and skin is replaced. She’s
beautiful, but her skin has a weird too-tight almost-artificial look to it.
Next, it’s off to the antiquities and sundries section of the
market. Belinda buys magical inks and psychoactives so Ana can begin to make
copies of Belinda’s spells. Julius buys a lightweight coat of bone chainmail from
a purple woman of Carcosa. Madeline buys a glove to cover her demon hand. It’s here that the PC’s hear a hissing, hungry voice
behind them “You look like you’re new to the Ghoul Market, how delicious.” A
group of six hungry ghouls have come up behind them. The rest of the market
looks on with interest. When the PCs came to the market, there was a 1-in-8
chance of them running into “hungry complications” from the patrons. Each time
they went someplace new, this chance went up by 1. They were lucky for a long
time, but I finally rolled low enough for the ghouls to make their move. “You
don’t have a Writ of Protection,” says the lead ghoul. “That means you’re meat
for the taking. But we’ll give you a break, just give us one of your number and
leave.”
I fully expected my players to hand over Grinot, but they are
craftier than that. “I wouldn’t mess with us! We’re on business for Agamot the
wizard.”
“Agamot? Who’s that?”
“He’s a friend of the great Lord Prospero?”
“Oh really?” Says the ghoul, “Well Prospero is right over
there. Let’s go ask him.”
Sure enough, since they are in the antiquities section of the Market, Lord Prospero is here with his servant Catherwood. Prospero is a decadent Vincent Price sort of wizard, and Catherwood is a stooped old man carrying a large cabinet full of
Prospero’s goods. Both wear a scroll around their necks that reads: “The bearer
of this writ of protection shall be afforded all the hospitality and safety due
a guest of Prince Dracula and his official representatives.”
Prospero is drunk and in a good mood, but he doesn’t corform to the PCs’ lies. “I assure you that amateur Agamot is no friend of mine!” The
party quickly explains that Girnot stole one of the rival wizard’s books. “Well in that
case, anyone who causes Agamot such irritation is certainly welcome in my
company!” He extends his one-time protection to the PCs for the night, and the
hungry ghouls slink off disappointed. The party talks with Prospero for a bit.
They find the libertine wizard charming, and he finds the adventurers
amusing. He invites them to come visit him in his castle sometime “And bring
that book of Agamot’s. I will pay you well for it!”
The party has made a new friend and finished their shopping
while narrowly avoiding being eaten by ghouls. They decide they’ve pushed their
luck enough for one night and leave the Market. The PCs emerge from the cemetery
just as dawn breaks over Nonsbeck.
Treasure Gained:
- Nothing that earned them XP, but..
- 300sp in Ghoul Market oboli, left over from shopping
- Carcosan bone mail that protects like chain but encumbers like leather.
- Friendship... the real treasure.
Graveyard:
- No one new this session!
- Tranquilo (Fighter 1)
- Hector (Alice 1)
